For three incredible years - 1998 to 2000 - Brees helmed the offense of the hometown Purdue Boilermakers and, under the tutelage of then-Head Coach Joe Tiller, revived what was a struggling Big 10 football program. And once the two-time Heisman trophy finalist went off to glory in the NFL, the native Texan stayed connected to the university and the local community.

He and his wife Brittany, also a Purdue alum, donated $2 million to create the Drew and Brittany Brees Student-Athlete Academic Center on campus. They’re active on a steering committee for expansion of the university’s athletic facilities. Brees returns every year for charity events including a banquet and golf tournament.

“Drew was one of those guys who never really left,” Purdue Athletic Director Morgan J. Burke said.

Nine years after his last college game, Brees still holds all kinds of passing records, not just at Purdue, but for the entire Big 10 Conference. Now more than ever, though, he’s a local hero.

“All my friends and I idolized him,” said Joe Strickler, a sophomore education major at Purdue who grew up in West Lafayette. “We thought he was the greatest player of all time.”

Sports fans on campus are “kind of torn” about Sunday’s matchup, Strickler said. The Colts might be Indiana’s team, but for true Purdue fans, there’s a larger force in play.

“I can’t root against the Saints in this game,” Strickler said. “I’d really like to see Drew Brees holding up the Lombardi Trophy.”

That’s the story all over town.

This week, college town West Lafayette and the larger, more working-class city of Lafayette just across the Wabash River constitute a refreshing oasis of black and gold in the otherwise dreary sea of Colts blue enveloping Indiana.

Two stacks of “Cool Brees” T-shirts overwhelm an assortment of Colts trinkets on a rack in the main aisle of a Walgreens pharmacy. At the Tippecanoe Mall, MC Sports is doing a brisk business in Saints No. 9 jerseys.

Mark Elsner, a systems administrator at a local company, attended Purdue for the same four years as Brees. He’s got a photo of himself with Drew and Brittany on his refrigerator and a fond memory of a trip to the Rose Bowl - Purdue’s first in 33 years - that capped off Brees’ senior season.

“I’ll be rooting for New Orleans,” Elsner said. “Drew is a heck of a quarterback, he’s fun to watch, and besides, he’s still involved here. He has been a very positive influence on the community.”

Up on the hill at the corner of State and Salisbury near Purdue’s fraternity row, affection for the Saints’ quarterback is nothing new.

The Triple XXX Family Restaurant (“On The Hill But On The Level,” circa 1929) was a familiar hangout for Brees in his college days, and owners Greg and Carrie Ehresman long ago added “The Drew Brees Favorite” to their breakfast menu. Consisting of a hamburger steak, two eggs, potatoes topped with sausage gravy and two grilled biscuits, it’s as delicious as it is hefty.

Carrie Ehresman, who met her husband at “the X” back when his father used to own the place, remembers Brees for his “lovely manners” as well as his football prowess.

“He’s a gentleman,” she said, noting that he’s likely to drop in once or twice every year on his trips back to West Lafayette.

Just down the street is another iconic establishment for Purdue fans, Bruno’s pizza restaurant. Founded in 1955 by Swiss immigrant Bruno Itin, it now is operated by his sons Orlando and Bruno Jr. and daughter Tina Wisma.

The food is popular enough, but what sets Bruno’s apart is the dining room, decked out floor to ceiling and wall to wall with memorabilia from Boilermaker stars past and present.

Amid the autographed photos of legendary college basketball coach John Wooden (a 1932 Purdue grad; who knew?), autographed helmets from Super Bowl quarterbacks Len Dawson (‘57) and Bob Griese (‘67) and hundreds of other items, there is an impressive array of Drew Brees relics. The artifacts include game balls from five of the biggest Boilermaker victories he engineered against Big 10 opponents to autographed cleats to a Pro Bowl jersey to custom-made statuettes of Brees in his Saints uniform.

Brees was a regular here, too, during his college days. His favorite pizza?

“Drew is lactose intolerant, so he’d go with the Bruno’s Meat - just sausage, pepperoni, bacon and ham,” said Orlando Itin, known to everyone in town as “Big O.”

Itin hasn’t talked with Brees about adding the quarterback’s name to the menu, but if that happens, he already has a name picked out: “It’s the Drew Brees No Cheese!”